Hogwarts 2245
by Barbara Fett
Summary: Interesting idea; what will it be like this far in the future? This story will be somewhat depressing, but end happy.
1. Default Chapter Title

A/N: I have a whole bunch of details to talk about here: 1) The reason the email is not shown in green is that the FF.N submission guidelines say not to specify the font color. 2) The "xoxoxo"s in the chat stand for hugs and kisses. 3) This story has [its own fanart page][1]! 4) "QUIRL" is a programming language, and yes, it was named for a certain DATDA professor. To get the name, I picked an HP word that ended with "L" for "language." (It will be described in detail in part 2.) 5) I borrowed the datapad idea from the Star Wars EU, and the name Nori from The Hobbit. (Well, _I _think it makes a good girl's name.) Nori's last name, Shishodo, is derived from the Pokémon name Odoshishi (a.k.a. Stantler). They don't belong to me! 6) This part ends at an odd spot; I couldn't decide whether the train ride belonged in part 1 or part 2, so I split it up. Enjoy!   


BEEEEEEEEEEEP! The last school bell rang. Alena Reyes jumped up and hurried out of the school building. Free at last! 

She caught the bus home. It floated dreamily over the streets to her stop. She got off and skipped down the street to her house. 

When she got home, she set her backpack down in its usual place in her room, sat down in her favorite chair and smiled contentedly. Then she turned her chair towards her computer and turned it on. She did this every day, but today, she knew she could stay up as late as she wanted, chatting with people, playing games or whatever. 

"Hello, Alena," said the computer. "You have mail." 

Alena nodded. "Show me." 

There were three pieces of mail. The first was her report card; this she sent on to her mom at work. The second was an invitation from a friend to go to the mall on Saturday, which Alena accepted. 

The third was very unusual. It was typed in emerald green - the color of Alena's eyes - on a yellowish-tan background. 

**Hogwarts Technical Institute**   
Headmaster - Edward Draconis

Dear Miss Reyes:   
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts Technical Institute. Please find attached a list of all necessary books and equipment.   
Term begins September 1. We await your reply by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,   
Prof. E. McConnell   
Deputy Headmistress

Alena was stunned. What an opportunity! One of the world's best tech schools had accepted _her_! But - geeky private school? Boarding school? When she had only turned 11 a month ago? 

Suddenly, something flashed into existence on her computer screen. Her mom had initiated a chat. 

MrsReyes474> Welcome home, Alena.   
CatGirl> Hi, Mom. I just got an email. It says I've been accepted to Hogwarts Technical Institute. At that moment, Alena was still too stunned and confused to state her feelings about this.   
MrsReyes474> Surprise, honey! You _have _been accepted. We signed you up when you were very young.   
CatGirl> ...like...wow....   
MrsReyes474> You must have a lot of questions. Go ahead, pick one.   
CatGirl> Okay... Me? An 11-year-old girl going to geeky private school that far away?   
MrsReyes474> First of all, don't think of it as geeky, think of it as an honor. You know about Hogwarts' reputation, right?   
CatGirl> I know it's a good school - just about everyone who goes there ends up successful. And I know it's big, and old, and creepy.   
MrsReyes474> I agree with everything except "creepy." It is certainly big and old - the castle it's in was built over 1200 years ago, and they say it's really a wonderful, majestic sight when you come to it. And it is the school where good people go to become even better. _I _know you're good enough; so do your teachers.   
CatGirl> [flattered] Good enough? Really?   
MrsReyes474> I'm looking at your report card right now, dear, and it's hardly a surprise they accepted you. So, do you want to go there now?   
CatGirl> Yes. I'll go. Do I reply to the letter?   
MrsReyes474> Let's reply together. You start typing, and tell me what you're saying. I'll tell you what to put in.   
CatGirl> Okay. "Dear Hogwarts Technical Institute: I accept. It would be an honor to attend your fine school."   
MrsReyes474> Very good. Add, "My parents have agreed to this."   
CatGirl> "My parents have agreed to this. I will see you on September 1st. Sincerely, Alena Reyes CatGirl@onlineworld.net>."   
MrsReyes474> Very nice. Send it. And congratulations!   
CatGirl> Thanks. xoxoxo   
MrsReyes474> xoxoxo

The chat ended. Alena decided to look at the supply list. 

**Hogwarts Technical Institute**

Uniform   
First-year students will require:   
1. Three sets of plain work jumpsuits (black)   
2. One plain tech-helmet (black) for day wear   
3. One pair of protective gloves (Naugahyde or similar)   
4. One winter coat   
Please note that all students' clothes should carry name tags

Textbooks   
All students should have a _non-electronic _copy of each of the following:   
_The Standard Book of QUIRL, Grade 1_   
_A History of Electronics_   
_Astronomical Theory_   
_A Beginner's Guide to Transinformation_   
_1000 Digital Codes and Terms_   
_Viruses: A Guide to Self-Protection_   
_Fantastic Ways to Get Things Done_

Other Equipment   
1 datapad   
1 microscope   
1 brass telescope   
Students may also bring a _small _pet, either real or artificial

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN HOVERERS

_That is a lot of textbooks, _Alena thought. _And why nonelectronic ones? Well, I can pick them up at the mall on Saturday, I hope . . . _She started another chat to ask her friend, Nori Shishodo. 

CatGirl> Hey, Nori, you on?   
Butterfly43> Yeah. So we're on for Saturday?   
CatGirl> Yes, that's what I wanted to talk about. The most amazing thing just happened to me. I've been accepted to Hogwarts Tech.   
Butterfly43> WHOA! Seriously?   
CatGirl> Yes! Here, I'm sending you my acceptance letter . . .   
Butterfly43> "We are pleased to inform you . . ." That's wonderful, Alena! You are so lucky!   
CatGirl> :-) And I have to buy a whole bunch of textbooks and a uniform and stuff. I can get it all on Saturday, right?   
Butterfly43> Of course! Is 10:00 at the fountain all right?   
CatGirl> Sure. See you there!

******* 

The mall was shaped something like a six-petaled flower, and the fountain was right in the center, in a glass-roofed plaza. Alena and Nori met there on Saturday, and hugged. 

"Where to first?" asked Nori. 

Alena considered. "Kinmo's." 

Kinmo's was a clothing store specializing in work and sport clothes; Alena hadn't shopped there too often before. She went in and showed the attendants printouts of her Hogwarts acceptance letter and supply list. They congratulated her and started fitting her for the jumpsuits. 

She stood on a stool to be fitted, and on the stool next to her was a sullen-looking blond boy. 

"Hi," said the boy. "Hogwarts, too?" 

"Yes," said Alena. "I'm Alena Reyes." 

"Elric Cromley. Know what team you'll be on?" 

"No." What did that mean? 

"Well, you won't until you get there, of course, but I'll probably be on the Green team, like all my family - imagine being on the Yellow team, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" 

"Mmmmm." 

"I don't suppose _you've _had anyone else in your family at Hogwarts?" 

"No." 

"Hmph." 

"That's you done, dear," said one of the attendants to Alena. She gathered her purchases, paid, and left, glad to get away from Elric. 

In the next half-hour or so, she bought her seven textbooks (finding nonelectronic ones took some effort), her microscope, and her telescope. She already had a pet at home, a cat named Zed. That left one thing - the datapad. 

A bell rang somewhere in the back of the shop as Alena entered. A little old bald man with glasses appeared and came forward. 

"May I help you?" he asked. 

"I - I'm Alena Reyes," said Alena in a sudden inexplicable attack of shyness. "I need a datapad for Hogwarts Tech." 

"You do? Congratulations!" he said. "I'm Mr. Saunders. Please, come over here. Are you right- or left-handed?" 

"Right." 

"All right, then..." He took a flat box down from a shelf. "The way this works is, you try out datapads until you find one you like. They come in all different colors and styles, but they all have the same capabilities. Here, try this one." 

Alena opened the box, which had "Style: Driftwood" printed on the lid. Inside was a brown-and-tan datapad. 

"No, not me," said Alena. 

Mr. Saunders took the datapad and its box and placed them on a chair. "Here, maybe this one." 

This one said "Style: Vanilla" on the box. The datapad inside was all white. "No, too boring." 

Alena was immediately given another box: "Style: Midnight." This datapad was black with small silver spots. "No, too dark." 

This went on for over ten minutes. As the stack of rejected datapads mounted higher, Mr. Saunders got more and more excited, and Nori, looking on, was not _entirely _bored. 

"Tricky customer, eh?" said Mr. Saunders. "Well, here . . . this is an unusual one, you might like it . . ." 

This style was called "Brave One." It was a beautiful red with shining metallic gold accents. Cool! "It's perfect," said Alena. "I want this one." 

"Great!" said Mr. Saunders, leading her over to the cash register. 

******* 

That evening, Alena came home to find that her train ticket for Hogwarts had arrived by email. She printed them and showed them to her family at dinner. 

"I got my train ticket!" Alena exclaimed happily as she sat down. "On September first," she read off the ticket, "I take the 11:00 train from . . . hmm, Hogwarts has its own station north of London . . ." 

"You used to get on the train for Hogwarts from a platform at King's Cross," her mom explained, "but no one uses it anymore. Apparently, the gate's broken and you can't get in, or something . . . it's really rather mysterious." 

"How odd," mused Alena. 

"But how wonderful!" interjected Alena's father. "You've never been on a regular train before, have you?" 

"Regular?" 

"Meaning, on the ground. The Hogwarts one is, because the track was already there and in good condition, so why bother putting in a monorail track, huh?" 

"Well, yes, it will be a new experience, but won't it take longer to get there that way?" 

"Probably, but, that's no big deal. What you'll find at the end of the trip is well worth the wait." 

"Right." She smiled. 

******* 

The rest of the summer passed in a joyful blur. Alena spent most of her time doing all the things she wouldn't be able to do at Hogwarts, like visiting her friends and going to the local amusement park. The night of August 31, she was up late packing her things, too excited to sleep. 

The next morning, Alena's parents dropped her off at the station at 10:40. She had her suitcase, plus a carrier containing her cat, Zed. The station was very small, only semi-modern, and bustling with students and their families. There was only one platform, which you could only get to by way of an inconvenient, annoying weapons detector. 

While in the crowd on the platform, Alena overheard: 

"I can't believe it - my little girl -" 

She looked in the direction of the voice. A woman was talking to her four children, who had red hair like hers. The woman was saying goodbye to all of them, but particularly to a girl who looked about Alena's age. 

"My fourth and last child at Hogwarts," the mother continued. "Enjoy yourself, Miya. Study hard. Write. I'll miss you all." 

"Bye, Mom," chorused the children. They, and Alena, joined the throng moving onto the train. Alena found a seat next to the girl who had been addressed as Miya. 

"New to Hogwarts?" the girl asked Alena. 

"Yes," Alena answered, "and I can hardly wait. I got my acceptance letter back in June - it was a complete surprise, but it was really cool." 

"Lucky you. I'm the fourth in my family to go to Hogwarts - my three brothers go there, too. I sort of know what to expect, because I've heard it all from them. Want me to tell you, or do you want to wait to find out?" 

"I want to wait. My name's Alena Reyes. What's yours?" 

"Miyana Hease, but my family calls me Miya, so, whichever." 

"And you're in your first year too?" 

"That's right." 

At that moment, the train began to move. Alena couldn't help smiling. They were on their way to Hogwarts! Their great journey was beginning! 

**To Be Continued . . .**   
Disclaimer: All characters in this part belong to me. Hogwarts and anything else it is possible to recognize as coming from the Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling and the two publishing companies. No copyright infringement is intended; I write because it's fun. :-) 

   [1]: http://dgb1.com/bowen/amy/hogwarts2245art.html



	2. Default Chapter Title

A/N: First of all, in response to some of the reviews for part 1: No, Hogwarts does not still teach magic :-(, and I _meant _to make it just like Sorcerer's Stone. These topics will both be touched on in part 3. A datapad is something like an improved PalmPilot, and nearly as useful as a wand; there is a picture of one at the bottom of the [fanart page][1].   
This part is dedicated to Bradan ? and Lianne Gregory, the co-namesakes of a new character introduced in this part. Speaking of names, most of the students mentioned in this part are named after people I know, two are named for characters from one of my original stories, two last names were in actual HP books, "Veritas, Sarah" is a sneaky reference to a certain potion, and "Takeru" is taken from Digimon. :-)   


Towns, fields, trees, streams, and other countryside sights rushed by outside the windows of the Hogwarts Express. Inside, Alena Reyes and her new friend Miyana Hease were enjoying themselves very much, chatting and playing checkers over their datapads (Miyana's was a violet color swirled with darker purple). Alena's cat, Zed, was curled up in the lap of his owner. 

A woman pushing a cart entered the cabin. "Would you like some lunch, ladies?" she asked. 

The two girls got up eagerly. They each bought a ham-and-cheese sandwich, a smoothie, a container of fruit salad, and an assortment of candy. 

Much later, a boy came suddenly into their cabin. He had blue eyes and the strangest hair the girls had ever seen - brown and blond interspersed together. He had already put on the school uniform. 

"Have you seen my Digipet?" he asked. "It seems to have gotten away from me again - don't know _what _I've done wrong to it - this just had to happen right _now _- I'm Bradan Gregory, by the way, who are you?" This all came out very fast. 

"I'm Miyana Hease," said Miyana. 

"Alena Reyes," said Alena. "And no, I'm afraid no Digipets have come through here today." 

"Oh," said Bradan. "Well, you might put your uniforms on soon - we're nearly there." He left. 

Indeed, they had arrived at the station within fifteen minutes. Clad in their new jumpsuits and helmets, Alena and Miyana climbed off the train. 

"First-years! First-years! This way!" called a tall, black-haired woman with glasses. She led all the first-years along a narrow path that ended at the shore of a lake. 

"Oh, whoa!" 

Atop a mountain on the other side of the lake stood a huge, majestic, old, creepy - _no, it's not creepy!_ - castle. The first-years were led onto a small boat to take them across the lake. 

There was an entrance for the boat under the castle. After they got off, the first-years came into the entrance hall. 

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" said the woman who had led them. "I'm Professor McConnell, Deputy Headmistress and Transinformation teacher. In a moment, you will be taken into the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony. The Sorting Ceremony will determine which Hogwarts team you will be on. The teams are Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. You will have classes with your team and sleep in your team dormitory. 

"You will be Sorted by means of a neural readout computer that analyzes your personality traits and uses the strongest ones to place you on a team. The Red team is for the bravest students; the Yellow team, for the most diligent and loyal; the Blue team, for the most intelligent; and the Green team, for the most ambitious and cunning. I hope you will all be successful members of whatever team you are on. Come along, it's time." 

Now, the first-years walked in a single-file line, through a small side door into the Great Hall. It was the largest room most of the students had ever been in. It had stone walls and four long tables with tablecloths in the colors of the four teams. Up at the front of the hall, on a raised platform, were a smaller staff table and a squat square silvery thing. 

As the line approached the silvery thing, Alena realized that it was the neural readout computer. It was made up of a large metal box with a gray glass panel on the front. A helmet was suspended from an arm on the right side of the box. Beneath the helmet was a stool. 

The line mounted the platform and stood waiting. The ceremony was about to begin! 

"When I call your name," said Professor McConnell, "sit down on the stool, take your tech-helmet off, and pull the receiver helmet down onto your head. Atley, Joel!" 

A nervous boy stepped out of the line, sat down, and put on the helmet. After a moment, the gray glass panel turned bright blue. The Blue team's table applauded, and Joel went and sat down at it. 

"Bronstone, Maria!" The panel turned green. Observing the table Maria went to, Alena decided she didn't like the look of the Green team. 

"Cawthorne, Denny!" Yellow. 

"Cromley, Elric!" Green. _No surprise, _thought Alena. 

"Davidson" . . . "Ellery" . . . "Eowyn" . . . "Franco" . . . then Alena crossed her fingers for the other people she'd met: 

"Gregory, Bradan!" Red. 

"Hease, Miyana!" Also red. 

"Jeffers" . . . "Lemos" . . . "Nott" . . . "Preston" . . . "Quigley" . . . and finally: 

"Reyes, Alena!" 

Heart racing, Alena took the seat and pulled the helmet down. It was so big it covered her eyes, and she saw nothing but darkness. Then, out of the silence came a click and a long, low hum. The blackness before her eyes began to lighten, to glow with a color . . . _red_! 

"Yeah, Alena!" called Miyana's voice. Alena removed the helmet, got up, left the platform and sat as close to her friend as she could. 

Four more people remained to be Sorted: 'Takeru, Sheena" became one of the Yellow team. "Veritas, Sarah" joined the Red table. "Welton, Mark" was placed on the Blue team, and finally, "Zinda, Bort" went to the Green team. 

"Dinner!" called Professor McConnell. 

At once, eight robots entered the room and served a large, delicious dinner to each student. When it was finished, they took the plates away just as efficiently. 

"Ahem!" came an amplified voice. 

Everyone looked up. A bearded man in dark-blue business clothes was speaking into a microphone. 

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!" he went on. "For those who don't know me, I'm Professor Draconis, the headmaster here. It's great to be back. If you're new here, congratulations and I hope you enjoy your time here. Now, as a school tradition, we're going to sing the school song." 

He clapped his hands and a recording started to play. The old students led in the singing, and the new ones followed as best they could. The words appeared on a silent radio on the front edge of the staff table. 

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts,   
Teach us something please . . ."   
_(A/N II: No, the school song has not changed in 250-some years, and I don't feel like typing it all out. :P)_

"Ah, music," said Professor Draconis at the end of the song. "The most wonderful thing anyone can create. And now, it's bedtime. The dorm leaders from each team will take you there. Good night." 

A boy and a girl, clearly older students, stood up at each table. The ones at the Red table called out, "Boys, this way!" and "Girls, follow me!" at almost the same time. 

Alena and the rest of the girls on her team followed the older girl up several staircases and down many hallways. They finally ended up in a circular room with a fireplace and many soft chairs. 

"For the new students, my name is Chris'nice Evers," said the dorm leader. "The girls' dorms are up this staircase over here." 

At the top of the staircase, there was a room for the students in each year. Alena and Miyana went to the room labeled "First-Years," along with Lynne Ellery and Sarah Veritas. 

The four of them found their suitcases already at the foot of their beds, their contents in small closets. They changed into their pajamas and climbed into bed, tired and very happy. 

********* 

The next morning, when Alena and her roommates got up and dressed, they found Chris'nice waiting for them outside their door. 

"Good morning, girls!" she said. "I have course schedules and directional programs to hand out. This way, you'll know where to go at what time, _and _how to get there. Get out your datapads, please, and turn them on." She pressed a few buttons on the screen of her own datapad. "You first, Lynne." 

Lynne stepped forward, holding up her datapad. Chris'nice pressed two more buttons, and Lynne's schedule appeared on her datapad. 

Miyana got hers next, then Alena, and finally Sarah. Chris'nice led them all back down the stairs to breakfast. 

"Can you believe all our schedules are _exactly _alike?" Lynne commented, when they were all seated at the table, eating. 

"Well, yes," answered Miyana, "because we're all in the same year and on the same team." She turned to the person sitting on her other side. "Hey, Bradan, check this out. Do you have this same schedule too?" 

"Yes," said Bradan. 

"Neat, huh?" 

"Yeah. I'm really looking forward to Transinformation . . . that's our second class today. QUIRL Programming is first. Let's see . . ." He opened the directional program on his datapad. "To get there, we go through the second door on the left after we pass the team-points board -" 

"Team-points board?" Alena cut in suddenly. 

"Yes, there's this big board over there in the hall where they show how many points each team has. Achievements will earn you points for your team, but rule-breaking will lose points. At the end of the year, the team with the most points gets some sort of award. Anyway . . ." 

They endured listening to the know-it-all-ish Bradan read the directions for a little longer, then it was time to go to class. The room where QUIRL Programming was taught was full of rows of computers. The teacher, a youngish man, told them to sit anywhere. 

"I'm Professor Taylor," he said. "Please get out your Standard Book of QUIRL textbooks and your datapads. We're going to start on page 3 in the book. 

"QUIRL, in case you didn't know, stands for Quantum Universal Informational Relationships Language. It's one of the most common programming languages in use today. It operates on the principle that every piece of information has a relationship to every other piece, and the pieces can be assembled in different ways to create different results. Now, our first lesson will be to take a look at this programming method in action. Everyone open the game 'MathBubbles' on your computer." 

The students opened it. It was a simple game, one most of them had played before in school. In the game, numbers floated   
around within bubbles on the screen, and there was a bar at the top of the screen that said, for example, "Addition 0-30." If   
this was the case, the player would find two number-bubbles with a sum between 0 and 30 and drag them together. If the player did this successfully, those two bubbles would disappear. The player would continue to do this until all the bubbles were gone, and then the game would advance to the next level. 

"You can play for ten minutes," said Professor Taylor, "and while you do, try to think about what the game's programming might say. When the ten minutes are up, I'll show you what it actually says. Okay, go." 

Ten minutes later . . . 

"Time's up," Professor Taylor announced. "Now, right-click on the top bar and click 'Program Code.' That will bring up a password window; type the word 'learning' and press _enter_." 

Alena did all this, and the game and all evidence of the operating system vanished. Her screen was black, with blue, green, and orange words. 

"Now," said Professor Taylor, "look up at the very top of the screen and tell me what that first block of code does." 

The first block of code read:   
[Screen1]   
textdisplay1(Heading1)=MathBubbles   
textdisplay2(Heading2)=by the EduCompany   
button1=New Game button2=Saved Game   
button3=Instructions button4=High Scores   
textdisplay3(Normal)=MathBubbles ™ and © The EduCompany. Copyright 2223. All rights reserved.

Alena raised her hand. "Yes?" said Professor Taylor. 

"That's the code for the opening screen - the window that comes up when you first open the game," said Alena. 

"That's right!" said Professor Taylor. "Five points to the . . . Red team, right?" 

"Right." 

"Okay. Notice how the code for the buttons is set up in rows of two - exactly the same way the buttons are placed on the screen. That's one of the things that makes QUIRL so easy to use; whatever you put in the code will show up in the same place in the finished program. Also notice where it says "Heading1," "Heading2," and "Normal" - those specify how big the text is. Those particular terms were created a _very _long time ago for a programming language called HTML, which isn't in common use today - you'll learn all about that in your history class. Now, hook up your datapads and start copying this down . . ." 

They spent the rest of their class time learning every detail of the inner workings of the game of MathBubbles, ending with a worksheet for homework. 

***** 

The Transinformation classroom was very much like the last, only all the desks faced forward and there was a large wall-screen at the front of the room. Professor McConnell was sitting at her desk, on one side of the screen. 

"Good morning, class," she said when the students started to come in. "Your seats are labeled with your names. Please take them, and get ready to listen." 

They all sat near the front, as there were only seven of them - the four girls and Bradan, plus Daniel Preston and Cory Franco. They sat in alphabetical order by last name, which put Alena between Daniel and Sarah. 

"Transinformation is one of the most exciting classes Hogwarts has to offer," Professor McConnell began. "In advanced stages, the art of Transinformation can be nearly mind-blowing. Anyone messing around in my class will be removed from lessons. You have been warned." 

She turned to her desk console and entered something. The wall-screen displayed:   


##  Transinformation

Transinformation is the art ofcreating informative presentations and publishing them. You are expected to be able to present information well, but also to learn from the presentations made in this class.

There is more readily available information today than ever before. New things are often discovered in space and new chapters of history are constantly being written on Earth. The purpose of Transinformation is to keep all this information organized and easy to find out. Transinformation skills are used very often in most workplaces, so yes, they are valuable.

"Okay," said Professor McConnell, after giving the class time to read the display. "Please get out your Beginner's Guides to Transinformation." She flipped the switch to turn on all the student's consoles. 

"We're going to start this class by making a simple presentation of your personal information - don't worry, you don't have to publicize anything you'd rather not; just tell the class a little bit about yourself. Look on page 10 of your book, where Lesson 1 begins: 'Gathering Information.' The first step to making a presentation is collecting the information that will go into it. That should be easy enough; using the tips in your book, type out the information you want to present in Write It!. Don't forget to save your work to your datapad." 

Write It! was a word-processing program in the same line as Present It!, which the class would use later on to make their presentations. The students now began to think carefully, reading a little and typing a little. By the end of class, they had finished gathering information and started putting it into a presentation. At the end of class, they saved their work to their datapads and left. 

******* 

Alena was now anxious to go to history class. What her teachers had said had made her curious. What had HTML been like, and why were they called "slides?" Too bad she didn't have history class until Tuesday! 

On Tuesday afternoon, when Alena entered the history classroom, she was surprised to find that four people she didn't know, and one she did, were also in the class. _Oh, no! Why, of all the teams, do we have to share a class with the Green team?_

This was another class without assigned seating. Alena sat next to Miyana, but behind Steve Jeffers, who was sitting on Elric Cromley's right. 

"Oh, it's you, Reyes," said Elric bitterly, turning to her. 

"Um . . . yeah," said Alena. 

"So, you're on the Red team. That makes us rivals." 

"Oh, it does?" 

"Yes. I've heard that more often than not, either the Red or Green team wins the team points competition." 

"Oh." 

"Quiet, please, class," said the professor. "Thank you. I'm Professor Parsons, and this is First-Year History. We will be studying the history of computer science in this class, but remember, the textbook is called A History of Electronics, _not _A History of Computers. Therefore, we will study all areas of electronic technology and their effect on society. Please set your datapads to 'Notes,' because we're going to take some from the book right now. Find the introductory lesson and start reading, and enter the main ideas into your datapad." 

The class went on like that for most of the period. It was definitely not their most interesting class, and they were assigned two pages of homework. A few minutes before the end of class, Alena raised her hand. 

"In QUIRL Programming class yesterday, the teacher said that parts of the QUIRL language came from an old computer language called HTML, and I wondered, what was HTML like? What was it used for?" 

"Well," said Professor Parsons, "Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML, was originally used to create websites - that's what the term 'hypertext' refers to. For a computer language, it lasted quite a long time, but eventually we started using QUIRL for everything. We'll cover that in chapter four or five." 

"Oh, okay. One more thing. In Transinformation, I wanted to know why it's called a 'slide,' and Professor McConnell said I should ask you. So, uh . . ." 

"Sure. You see, before there were computers (and even for a time after), in order to make a presentation, you had to use slides and a slide projector. A slide was like a little photograph on a clear piece of plastic, and the slide projector shone a light through the slide so the image was projected onto a wall or screen. When we started making presentations with computers, we just continued to call each image in a presentation a slide, and that's what they're called to this day." 

"How interesting! Thank you." 

"No problem." 

The bell rang, and the class moved on. 

******* 

Time flew by for Alena, and October was almost over before she knew it. On the Friday evening before Halloween, she changed drowsily into her pajamas. The school was going to have a party in two days! 

As she was about to climb into bed, she was startled to find a note lying on her pillow. It was on parchment paper, and folded in thirds. Discreetly, Alena opened it. It read, in someone's slightly blotchy handwriting: 

Dear Alena,

This is not a threat or an angry letter from a teacher or anything like that. This is a friendly letter from three Hogwarts graduates and former members of the Red team. We would like to meet with you, Miyana, and Bradan to discuss Hogwarts and its history and things like that. If you come, you will find out the truth about the "mysterious" beginnings of Hogwarts, and what its true nature can offer you. If you don't come, it's your loss, but it's also a loss to the school. Please meet us at midnight in your common room on Halloween. We hope to see you there.

Sincerely,   
The Three of Us   
(We'll tell you who we are when we see you)

Alena read the letter several times over. Was it true? Was that rotten Elric Cromley trying to trick her, or did some old Hogwarts graduates really want to see her? And why had they asked for her _and _her friends? 

She slept restlessly that night, thinking about it. In the morning, when she showed the letter to Miyana and Bradan, they were fascinated, but wary. 

"So, do you want to do it?" Miyana asked. 

"I guess," said Alena. "I'm game if you are." 

"Well, that's not much help, because that's how _I _feel." 

"I'm going to do it," Bradan announced. "We've got the chance to find out something about Hogwarts that no one else probably knows! Why not do it?" 

"Yeah," said Alena, "that might be fun. Okay, I'll be there." 

"I'm in too," agreed Miyana. 

******* 

The three of them did their best to enjoy the special weekend, but they could never completely ignore their nervousness. What would happen? Who were the mysterious people who wanted to meet them? Was it a trap, after all? 

A few minutes before midnight on Halloween night, three datapads set off three silent alarms for three sleeping students in the Red team dormitories. These three got up, put on slippers, and began to descend the stairs from their rooms to the unknown destiny awaiting them in the common room. 

**To Be Continued . . .**   
Disclaimer: I do not own Hogwarts, the school song, or anything else that I took from the Harry Potter books. Nor do I own the name Takeru (from Digimon) or any of the people who have characters named after them. No money is being made off this; I write because it's fun. [I decided that it's dumb to say "No copyright infringement is intended," because it happens whether you intend it to or not. :-( ] :-) 

   [1]: http://dgb1.com/bowen/amy/hogwarts2245art.html



	3. Default Chapter Title

_(Since Chapter 2 ended with a cliffhanger, the author's note is at the end of this part. -B.F.)_

The first thing Alena and Miyana looked at when they got down to the common room was the stairway to the boys' dorms, to make sure that - Yes, Bradan was there. Nodding to each other, the three looked around the room for their visitors. They could hardly believe what they saw. 

Standing near the fireplace were three figures, two young men and one young woman. They were all wearing black robes and tall, conical hats, but even this wasn't the strangest thing about them. The strangest thing about them was that they didn't quite look _real _- they were surrounded by a strange, misty light. 

Miyana covered her mouth, trying to keep from screaming. Bradan slowly moved closer to the two girls, never taking his eyes off the visitors. Alena just stared, amazed, trying to find the right words. 

"Hello," said one of the figures, a young man with messy black hair. He sounded perfectly normal, and friendly - not evil, not even dead. 

"A-are you guys - ghosts?" Alena finally said. 

"No," said the young man. "We're memories. We're a bit like ghosts; the main difference is that we chose to appear in this form. We made these memories of ourselves when we were 17 - that's why we look that age now. We left them here at school in case the school ever needed our help again." 

"But why? _How_?" 

"We'll get to that. First, we ought to introduce ourselves. Believe me, the introductions will only be the first of a lot of incredible things you kids will find out tonight. Are you ready?" 

Alena straightened. "I'm ready." 

"Good. I'm Harry Potter, and I'm one of your ancestors, Alena." 

"Wow!" Was this actually happening? It was like something out of a story. 

"You have my eyes, do you know?" Harry added. 

Alena looked at him. "Yeah, you're right . . ." 

Now the second young man, the redhead, spoke. "Hi, I'm Ron Weasley, and I'm an ancestor of Miyana's." 

"So you must be _my _ancestor?" Bradan said suddenly, indicating the young woman. 

"Yes," she said. "My name is Hermione Granger." 

"How long ago did you go to school here?" Miyana inquired. 

"About two hundred and fifty years ago," answered Harry. 

Alena looked stunned and confused. "But - back then there was nothing that could preserve a person's memory like this! How did you do it?" 

"Oh, but there _was _something," smiled Hermione. "Come, let's go sit down. We have a lot to say, it may take a while." 

The six of them pulled six of the many comfortable chairs in the room into a sort of circle. Alena and her friends were beginning to get used to the visitors, but it was still a very strange experience. 

"Okay," said Harry. "I'm going to start with the first secret you need to know before you can understand the others. Please don't tell anyone, at least, not yet. Later, we'll let a few other people in on it." 

"Is it a bad secret?" Bradan asked. 

"No," said Hermione, "it's a wonderful secret. Harry and I found out when we were about your age, and when we got over the shock, it was the best thing that ever happened to us - isn't that right, Harry?" 

"Yes," said Harry. "So, here it is. Alena, Miyana, and Bradan, all three of you are witches and wizards." 

Silence. 

"What do you mean?" Alena finally said. "Those are something people dress up as for Halloween. A whole bunch of people wore witch or wizard costumes to the school Halloween party. They're not real." 

"And you said this wasn't a bad secret," added Bradan. "All the old stories say they were bad." 

"Everything you've just said is, or was, a stereotype," said Hermione. "You see, through most of history there has been a worldwide magical community. This community always did its best to hide the fact of its existence from Muggles . . . yes, I know, you're about to ask what Muggles are." 

"Did you read my thoughts?" asked Alena. 

"No, that's what most people ask when they hear this story. Muggles are non-magical people, 'normal' people. Anyway, we wizards tried not to let them know about us, but they did, sort of. That's why you have all those stories Bradan mentioned. The stories may not be true, but the magic in them is real." 

"Can you . . . show us some?" said Miyana. 

"Sure. We'll have to do it together, though, becuase we're not very strong as memories." 

As Alena and her friends watched, the others all pulled narrow sticks from their sleeves, pointed them at a chair on the other side of the room, and said in unison, "_Accio chair!_" 

The chair zoomed across the room as if drawn by an enormous magnet, coming to rest behind Ron's and Hermione's chairs. 

The younger kids looked at the chair and then at the memories, partly in awe, partly in shocked disbelief. 

"So we can do that too?" said Alena. 

"Yes," said Harry, "but you have to learn how. That brings us to the next important secret: We learned how _here_." 

"Here? You mean this used to be a _magic _school?" 

"Yes. This school began somewhere around the year 1000, and it was called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was founded by four great wizards, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin. The school houses are named after them, only they call them teams now. What used to be Gryffindor is now the Red team. Ravenclaw is the Blue team. Hufflepuff is the Yellow team. Slytherin is the Green team." 

"I get the impression," Alena remarked, "that the Green team - Slytherin - aren't a very nice bunch. Was that how it was in your day?" 

"Yes!" said Harry. "You were Sorted into your teams, right?" 

"Right." 

"How?" 

"They used a neural readout computer to analyze our personality. They said Red - Gryffindors were brave, Hufflepuffs were diligent and loyal, Slytherins were cunning and ambitious, and Ravenclaws were smart." 

"That's absolutely right; it's always been that way. But in the old days, we were Sorted by the Sorting Hat. It was great . . . it could think for itself, and it talked to you when it Sorted you . . . but it's gone now, poor old thing . . ." 

"What happened to it?" asked Alena. "What happened to this _school_? Why did it stop teaching magic?" 

"Well," Hermione began, "it started in the year 2050. That spring, some dumb Muggles came exploring around Hogwarts - now, keep in mind that the entire castle was enchanted so that if a Muggle saw it, they only saw an old broken-down ruin. Anyway, when they got here, they found that their electronics started malfunctioning - that's another thing about Hogwarts; back then, there was so much magic in the air it messed up electronic devices. So, they stayed there a while, and left, and the things worked fine again. They wanted to know why, so they got a bunch of people together to study the area. Eventually, they found some dumb kid's Potions homework lying around on the grounds, and they knew it was an important clue because it was so strange to them. They took it into the castle and left it for someone to find. Someone did find it, and they took him into custody -" 

"That's horrible! Why would they do that?" 

"They did it to find out what the homework was and why their stuff didn't work. They did, and in doing so, they proved that magic existed, which is why it was indeed horrible. When word got out, it was exactly as we'd feared - the whole world wanted magical solutions to their problems. A few of the witches and wizards did what the public wanted, but most didn't want to - they understood that the reason their powers had been kept a secret for so long was that in the past, Muggles had persecuted them -" 

"Of course, witch burning in the fourteenth century was completely pointless, but we won't go into that now -" Ron interjected, making his friends laugh. 

"That's right," said Hermione. "Anyway, this had gone on the past, and they believed it would start up again now that the secret was out. It didn't, but the training of magical children gradually came to a stop. What happened was, Hogwarts - and the other wizarding schools, too - were overwhelmed with applications, most of them from Muggles who hadn't a hope of learning magic, and who just wouldn't listen to reason. 

"Some ten years after the secret got out, two things happened: The datapad came on the market, and an Internet access line became as fundamental a part of a house as an electric, gas, or phone line. That turned a lot of attention from magic to technology. The Hogwarts staff of the time went with the flow and turned Hogwarts into a tech school. 

"It didn't happen all at once, of course. To wire the castle up, change all the classes, and break all the enchantments took four years. A lot stayed the same, though - today's acceptance letter and supply list are _very _similar to the ones we had a long time ago. The dorm setup is the same, and the train route and the Sorting are almost the same. Speaking of that, the Sorting Hat, which was very old when _we _used it, must have gotten discarded sometime during the big transition." 

"How do you _know _all this?" asked Bradan. 

"Well," said Harry, "all this time we've been hanging around here as memories, we've been keeping up with the outside world through our telescopes, which we enchanted so we can see anything we want through them, no matter where it's happening. I hope you won't be offended, Alena, but I looked in on you a lot, and it's amazing how much your experiences have been just like mine." 

"Coincidence, I suppose," said Alena. 

"Right," said Harry. "Now, I'd like to go on to the next part of what we have to tell you. Are you comfortable with what you've heard so far?" 

"Not exactly . . ." said Miyana. "Mind if we go get our datapads?" 

"We'd better come with you," said Hermione, "in case we need to put sleep spells on your roommates. But yes, let's go." 

A few minutes later, Alena and her friends had typed up some notes on what they had learned so far, with a few reminders from their new friends. They sat ready for whatever would come next. 

"Here's our plan," Harry said. "How would you feel about making Hogwarts a magic school again?" 

"Wow!" said Alena. "That would be . . . um . . ." 

"Interesting, but . . ." said Miyana. 

"It's not the reason we came here," Bradan finished. 

"I know," said Harry, "but you'd like to learn magic, wouldn't you?" 

"Yeah," said Alena. "It's . . . _different_." 

"_Very _different," agreed Ron. "What we want is to put the magic back into this school. I realize that this place is so popular as a tech school, we'll never be able to get rid of that element entirely. What we _can _do is have the school offer classes in practical magic along with the tech ones. That way, everyone's happy." 

"Aren't the magic classes supposed to be a secret?" Alena asked. 

"Yes and no," answered Hermione. "It will never be a complete secret again. What we want is for the tech and magic classes to be taught alongside each other, for the two sets of skills to be considered equally important." 

"Harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples . . ." mused Harry. "Gilderoy Lockhart's ideal birthday present!" 

Apparently, this was another inside reference; Ron and Hermione laughed. "Yeah . . ." 

"But wait," said Bradan. "If Hogwarts taught magic again as well as tech stuff, the Muggles would have to be excluded from the magic lessons . . . what would they think about that?" 

"Oh," said Harry blankly. 

"Oh, dear," said Hermione. "I guess 'harmony between magic and non-magic peoples' is going to be harder to do than we thought . . ." 

"Is it possible?" Miyana wondered. 

They thought about it. "Well," Harry finally said, "we are going to make a new magical Sorting Hat . . ." 

"So _it _could tell the students . . ." Ron continued. 

". . . whther or not they can be in the magic classes!" finished Alena. 

"There would still be jealousy involved, though . . ." Miyana pointed out. 

"True," said Harry, "but if that happens, we know how to do something called a Memory Charm. If the Muggles don't know what's going on, there won't be any jealousy." 

"Okay," said Alena. "So how do we start doing all this?" 

"Slowly and carefully, without letting the whole school know. Can we talk to Professor McConnell sometime after class? She's the head of your house." 

"Yes, on Monday. Her class is in the morning. You know where it is?" 

"Transinformation? Yes. We'll be there; just call for us at the end of class when everyone else has gone, and we'll come. Then we'll tell her most of what we just told you, and hopefully get her involved in our efforts. Agreed?" 

"Agreed," said Alena, Miyana, and Bradan. 

"Thanks so much," said Hermione. "You can go back to bed now." 

"I have one question," said Alena. "Are there any other witches and wizards here besides us three?" 

"Most likely," answered Harry. "We'll know for sure who's who when we get our new Sorting Hat." 

******* 

On Monday morning after Transinformation class, Alena and her friends stayed in the room after the class had ended. There was a 20-minute break between this class and the next, so they had time to say what they needed to. Alena began the conversation with, "Professor McConnell, there's someone here who'd like to meet you." 

"Is there?" said the teacher. "Who?" 

"Come in, Harry," Alena and her two friends said together. 

Harry, Ron, and Hermione appeared out of the wall-screen, winked at each other, and said, "Please don't be alarmed -" It was too late; Professor McConnell was very alarmed. 

"These," said Alena, "are our friends Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. They're - well, they're a lot of things . . ." 

"They're _glowing_," said Professor McConnell. 

"They're _memories_," said Bradan. 

"Yes," said Ron, "preserved in this castle these 250 years, give or take a few. We were also students here once, and we were on the Red team." 

"And," said Hermione, "by the time we graduated, we were good enough with magic to leave memories of ourselves here." 

"You were good enough with _what_?" said Professor McConnell. 

"You heard us," said Harry. "It's true. Alena knows it's true, right?" 

"Right," Alena answered. 

"You didn't learn magic _here_ . . ." said Professor McConnell. 

"We did," said Harry. "You don't know what happened?" 

"What happened with regard to what?" 

"With regard to how this school became a tech school." 

"No, I really don't . . ." 

"Well, we're here to tell you." They gave her a brief version of the events that had rendered Hogwarts non-magical. 

"So now," Alena finished, "we want to arrange for magic classes to be taught here again. We're not going to change it _all _the way back - we can't, not now that this is such an important tech school. What we want is to add the magic classes to the regular ones. They _can _be equally useful." 

"Well . . . I never imagined that this would happen . . . perhaps we should discuss this with Professor Draconis." Professor McConnell was doing her best to continue to look professional. 

"The Headmaster?" said Harry. "Yes, of course. I have a feeling he'll listen to us - he reminds me of Dumbledore, in a way. When can we do it?" 

"Thursday after dinner," Professor McConnell answered, "we're having a staff meeting. I'll let you all in." 

"Thank you so much," said Alena. 

"You're . . . welcome," said Professor McConnell. "You'd better get along now. See you later." 

******* 

Professor McConnell rushed through dinner on Thursday, then went to find Alena and her friends. She took them into a comfortable conference room, where, in addition to the swivel-chairs for the staff, six upholstered folding chairs had been set up. 

The staff entered and took their seats. Professor Draconis opened the meeting by saying, "Good evening, everyone. We have some very unusual news tonight; that's why we have Miss Alena Reyes, Miss Miyana Hease, and Mr. Bradan Gregory as our guests." 

He motioned to them to stand up. Nervously, they did. 

"Hi, I'm Alena Reyes," she said. "Some friends of ours are going to come in and talk now. They graduated from this school a long, long time ago, and they were on the Red team too. They're kind of strange-looking, so please don't be alarmed when you see them." 

She paused, and then she and her friends said together, "Come in, Harry!" 

Harry, Ron, and Hermione came in, through the door this time; Alena had suggested this, because "you look more normal that way." 

"Allow me to introduce Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley," Alena went on. "They're wizards." 

A cacophony of noise suddenly erupted in the room. All the staff were either terrified or staring in disbelief - all except Professor Draconis. 

"Wizards, eh?" he said. "Then you really _did _graduate a _long _time ago . . ." 

"You mean you _know_?" exclaimed Bradan. 

"Of course I know," said Professor Draconis calmly. "This used to be Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They changed it in the late twenty-second century to Hogwarts Technical Institute." 

"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Professor Taylor. 

"Ever since the transition," Professor Draconis answered, "the headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts have never told anyone about the school's history. You see, when this was a magic school, it was a complete secret to non-members of the magical community." 

"_Community_?" said Professor Spyrida, who taught Horticulture. 

"Yes," said Professor Draconis. "Maybe our . . . alumni will tell us about it?" 

"There's not much to tell," said Miyana. 

"There's plenty to tell!" said Harry. "We just haven't told you yet." He adressed the staff. "There are two things we need to tell you: how and why Hogwarts changed, and what we want to do about it. Then there's my story, which is interesting, but irrelevant. Professor Draconis, where should we start?" 

"Start with what happened to Hogwarts. Then tell us what you want to do, and we'll see what we think." 

"Can we get this recorded?" asked Hermione. "This is the third time we've had to tell all this in a week." 

"Oh - sure," said Professor Draconis. "There's a camcorder in the other room - would someone please go and get it?" 

"I will," said Professor McConnell. "In under a minute, she had set it up and turned it on. She spoke into it: "Hello, I'm Professor Eliza McConnell, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts Technical Institute. Today is Thursday, November 4, 2245, and some people have some very unusual things to tell us, and they wanted it recorded, so here goes. They're some strange- looking people . . . no, not you, Alena . . ." 

"We know who you mean," said Bradan, as Professor McConnell turned the camcorder on the wizards. 

"Hello," said the professor. "How about some introductions?" 

"I'm Harry Potter, and this is my descendant, Alena Reyes. Alena?" 

Alena got up and looked into the camera. "Hi!" 

"I'm Ron Weasley, and this is my descendant, Miyana Hease." 

Miyana, too, got up and greeted the camera. Hermione then introduced herself and Bradan. 

Professor McConnell then aimed the camera at the six folding chairs and motioned for the guests to sit in them. They did, and she said, "Now, I've already heard all this, and it's pretty amazing . . . go ahead." 

"Well," said Harry, "way back in the '90s -" 

"The _19_90s," Alena clarified. 

"Exactly," said Harry. "Way back in the 1990s, Hermione and Ron and I came here to learn magic. This was once Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That explains why we look this way; we're memories now. We left them here just before we graduated." 

"It was great back then," said Ron. "If you knew how, you could do as much with your wand as with a whole bunch of eclectic, er, _electric _things." 

"But that changed . . ." Harry went over the story of how Hogwarts had changed one last time. 

"So now, we want to start teaching magic classes again," concluded Hermione. "They won't replace the regular classes; they'll just supplement them. For those who can take them, it's a great skill to have." 

" 'For those who can take them?' " asked Professor Taylor. 

"Yes," said Harry, "magic is an inherited ability, and some people don't have it. We still haven't completely figured out how we're going to handle that . . ." 

"If you ask me, we can deal with that stuff later," said Alena. "Now, we need Professor Draconis's decision. Can we start teaching magic again?" 

"Will these three teach it?" said Professor Draconis, meaning Harry, Ron and Hermione. 

"Yes," said Harry, "we will." 

For a few moments, there was silence. Then Professor Draconis said: 

"You know, when we abandon the ways of the past, we sometimes lose what was good in the world. Yes, this school will teach magic again." 

"_Yes!_" The six people in the folding chairs got up and hugged, or at least high-fived. 

"Then we have a lot of planning to do," said Miyana. 

"We may need to do it another time," Bradan surmised. 

"You're right, Bradan," said Professor McConnell. "We did have other things to talk about tonight, so let's just schedule a meeting for the weekend sometime . . . how about . . ." She consulted her datapad. "Sunday the 14th at two in the afternoon?" 

"Sure," said Alena. "We can make that." 

"Good. Well, it's almost your bedtime, isn't it? Good night." 

******* 

The meeting on Sunday was long and involved, but productive. The staff, the three old graduates, and their descendants decided when and how they would set up the magic classes, and when the classes would be held. Harry and his friends told the entire story of what had happened with them and Voldemort. The staff agreed - mostly - to accept this new element in the school. Plans were also made to reinstate certain things from the "old" Hogwarts - the hourglasses that recorded the house points, the password protection on some doors (this would be changed back to magical methods), the old house names and mascots, the Quidditch competition, and, of course, the Sorting Hat. 

At the end of the meeting, Harry and his friends went down to the Chamber of Secrets, where they kept a wide variety of magical items. From this store, they got a pointed wizard's hat, kept in good condition all this time, and set it on a table next to a thick, old book. They then began what they knew would be the long, hard process of putting brains in the hat. 

******* 

Several weeks before Christmas, Alena came down to the Great Hall for breakfast and found it more beautifully decorated than she had ever imagined. The walls were hung with mistletoe and holly, and twelve trees stood around the room. 

She took a closer look at one tree and noticed that the lights on it weren't wired together, weren't even in bulbs - they were just _there_. Cautiously, she touched one - it was warm and tickly. Magic! 

She smiled and sat down. Soon, she and her friends would begin learning to do that! 

Winter had begun, and students at Hogwarts could choose to go home for the holidays or stay at school. Alena and her friends were going home, so they had to buy each other presents before they left. They went with many other students and several teachers on a short shopping excursion in mid-December. 

On the morning of the last day of classes, everyone got up, dressed, and went immediately to the common room to exchange gifts. Bradan gave both Alena and Miyana the handheld game "Totally Trivia." Alena gave Miyana a cute little lunchbox and Bradan a designer mousepad. Miyana gave Bradan a recording of Christmas music and Alena a mood bracelet. 

The three of them were very nervous that evening when they went to dinner. Tonight was the night that their plans would be announced to the whole school. 

When dinner had been cleared away, Professor Draconis got up to speak. A large projector had been set up in the middle of the hall, its screen behind the staff table. 

"Happy holidays, everyone," said Professor Draconis. "I have something very special to announce tonight. 

"About two months ago, several students from the Red team brough the history of the school to light. It was . . . well, just watch this." 

He gave a signal. The lights were dimmed, and the video of the Thursday-night staff meeting came on. 

It was followed by the highlights of the longer, Sunday meeting. When the lights came back on, Professor Draconis said: 

"We have already begun preparing to teach magic. Like we said in the video, we're going to start using the real names of the houses and playing Quidditch again. We're also going to stop using the neural readout computer and start using the Sorting Hat II, which Harry Potter and his companions have just finished making." 

Professor McConnell brought the Sorting Hat II onto the stage, on a stool. There was a neat slit near the brim. After a moment, the slit opened and the hat spoke. 

"Hello," it said. "I am the Sorting Hat II, servant of Hogwarts School. I can see into your mind, and then place you with your kind. I was made by this fine crew, who I introduce to you." 

In came the three memories. No one looked surprised; everyone had seen them on the video. 

"Hi," said Harry. "It's wonderful having this hat back. For everyone's information, the original Sorting Hat -" 

"May it rest in peace -" interjected the Sorting Hat II. 

"- was created by this school's founders: Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin. This hat will not only tell you what house you belong in, it will tell you whether or not you have magical abilities - remember, some people don't. Everyone will find out whether they do or not when we come back from vacation - we've scheduled it with your Heads of Houses. No, you will not change houses because of this. 

"It took us six weeks of difficult wizardry to make this hat," Hermione said. "It used to be ours, but now it belongs to the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Merry Christmas, Professor Draconis." 

"Thank you," said the professor. 

"And now, it's time for bed," said Ron. "Our special friends - you know who you are - please meet us on the stage; we have presents for you. As for the rest of you, good night and happy holidays." 

The room began to empty out. Alena, Miyana, and Bradan went up to the stage. 

The three memories smiled. Each one handed his or her descendant a wrapped gift. "Open them now." 

Bradan's present turned out to be Hogwarts, A History. "I read that all the time when I was in school," said Hermione. "It's interesting, but it's rather biased and selective, so you'll find some notes from me stuck in there." 

"Thank you," said Bradan. 

Miyana had a dark-red, drawstring bag. She opened it and looked in. "Jellybeans?" 

"No, better," said Ron. "_Every _Flavor Beans. We used to love them, they come in every flavor you can imagine, including strawberry and mint and grass and pepper and sardine and earwax - don't worry, it's not very likely you'll find one of those, but it's the risk that makes them fun to eat." 

"Cool, thanks." 

Alena's present was in a gift box. It was a soft, gray, light, flowing piece of cloth. 

"It's my Invisibility Cloak," said Harry. "On my first Christmas at Hogwarts, the headmaster gave it to me - it had been my father's. And now I'm passing it on to you; I don't need a cloak to become invisible now. Will you put it on?" 

"Sure." She fastened it around her shoulders, and everyone stared at her. Hermione pointed her wand at the wall and muttered "_Reflecta!_" The wall suddenly became a mirror, and Alena laughed when she saw her head floating in it. "It works!" 

"Put the hood up," Harry suggested. 

She did, and vanished completely from the mirror - she could see right through the cloak where it covered her eyes. 

"I used to sneak around school in that all the time," said Harry, "but I had to, because of the whole Voldemort thing. Don't let this get you in trouble, okay?" 

"Okay," said Alena, pulling the cloak off. 

"Merry Christmas, Alena," said Harry, putting one arm around her shoulders. "When you come back, we'll use this castle as it was meant to be used. And that will be a real step in the right direction."   


A/N: That was the last part, but there will most likely be a sequel - thanks again, Spork! :-) You may notice that I avoided mention of any Harry/Hermione or Ron/Hermione romance at all - that felt really awkward, because of their relationship to my characters. (Oh, don't ask me to explain...)   
This part is dedicated to the immensely caring and patient Annalyn O. Reyes. Thanks for doing your job so well and best wishes for your family. :-)   
Notice that I snuck in a certain 12-letter buzzword beginning with "H?" Heeheehee... :-)   
It's my first Christmas on FF.n, and instead of a Christmas special, I've written the last scene of this and "Flower of My Heart," my entry in Flourish's challenge. Happy Holidays to all Harry Potter-heads! :-D   
Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling. No money is being made off this; I write because it's fun. :-) 


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